What Is a Cortado

The cortado occupies a specific and satisfying position in the espresso drink spectrum: more milk than a macchiato, less than a latte, served small enough that you taste the coffee throughout every sip.

Origin and name

Cortado comes from the Spanish verb cortar, to cut. The drink is espresso cut with a small amount of warm milk to reduce the acidity. It originated in Spain and is common throughout Spain and Latin America as a standard cafe offering. In specialty coffee shops globally, it has become a marker of a certain kind of coffee seriousness.

The ratio

A cortado is typically a 1:1 ratio of espresso to milk: a double shot cut with approximately the same volume of steamed milk. The result is a 3-4 ounce drink with a pronounced coffee flavor that the milk softens without obscuring. If you want to taste the espresso clearly but find straight espresso too intense, the cortado is the drink for you.

How it differs from similar drinks

The macchiato has less milk and a stronger espresso presence. The Gibraltar, a US specialty coffee invention, is essentially the same as a cortado served in a specific glass. The piccolo latte is similar but often made with a single ristretto shot. These distinctions matter less than the underlying principle: small drink, real coffee flavor, small amount of milk.

Where to order one

Any serious specialty cafe should be able to make a good cortado. If the shop looks at you blankly when you order one, that tells you something about how they approach their menu. Barcelona and Madrid remain the best cities in the world for ordering a cortado without explanation.

Related reading: macchiato, flat white, espresso.

Every cortado you pull at a real cafe counts toward Pulled Coffee challenges.